Ride Start 6:00PM. The Monday night HSP series are novice/intermediate paced, no drop rides. While the park has a few small climbs and technical features, mainly the trails are flowy and fun, and not very technical. Typically the rides last 1 to 1 ½ hours and cover 6 to 8 miles. Please contact the ride leader for parking instructions.Ride will depend on weather and ride leader availability, so please check the BVNEMBA Facebook page for event updates, or contact the ride leader.We look forward to seeing you out there and hope you enjoy the rides.
Ride Leader: Brian Forestal, Captainbri1@gmail.com, 508-509-9258

Ride Start 6:00PM.The Tuesday night series are advanced novice/intermediate paced, no drop rides. Locations will vary week to week, but will include places such as Douglas, Northbridge, Millbury, Sutton, Uxbridge and Oxford. Difficulty and pace of rides will depend on location, so please check the description of the ride on Face Book, see the park description onwww.nemba.org/trails/massachusetts, or contact the ride leader. Typically the rides last 1 to 2 hours and cover 6 to 10 miles.Ride will depend on weather and ride leader availability, so please check the BVNEMBA Facebook page for event updates, or contact the ride leader.We look forward to seeing you out there and hope you enjoy the rides.
Ride Leader: Eammon Carleton, eammon@gmail.com, 508-361-3509

BVNEMBA Wednesday Evening Ride
Ride Start 6:00PM. The Wednesday night series are advanced novice/intermediate paced, no drop rides. Locations will rotate between West Hill Dam, Goat Hill/Ribbon Candy and Mendon Town Forest (“Zoo Trails”). Please check the description of the ride on Face Book, see the park description on www.nemba.org/trails/massachusetts, or contact the ride leader. Typically the rides last 1 to 2 hours and cover 6 to 10 miles.Ride will depend on weather and ride leader availability, so please check the BVNEMBA Facebook page for event updates, or contact the ride leader.We look forward to seeing you out there and hope you enjoy the rides.
Ride Leader: Moritz Schmid, Schmid90@gmail.com

Ride Start 6:00PM. The Thursday night series are novice/intermediate paced, no drop rides. Locations will cover the Metro west area and will vary, but will likely include regular rides at Callahan, Vietnam, Upton and Ribbon Candy. Please check the description of the ride on Face Book, see the park description on www.nemba.org/trails/massachusetts, or contact the ride leader. Typically the rides last 1 to 2 hours and cover 6 to 10 miles.Ride will depend on weather and ride leader availability, so please check the BVNEMBA Facebook page for event updates, or contact the ride leader. We look forward to seeing you out there and hope you enjoy the rides.

Date

A challenging intermediate ride with marked loops starting at 5.5 miles with options to extend the ride to 10+ miles! Bring your children and try the obstacle course presented by Ovah The Bars, LLC.Suggested donation:$10Must be on the trails by 11am.Proceeds to benefit Mendon Town forestFood and drink availble just across the street at Galliford's

Date

This is a special event in the anticipation of getting these trails accepted by the Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR). A strong showing of Blackstone Valley NEMBA volunteerism will show the DCR that mountain bikers will be good partners and will help steward these trails once they are brought into the official trail inventory.

Please come – and bring a friend too!

April 22nd, 9am start time. We will be cutting back the face-slappers and brushing out parts of the trail. Please bring clippers and a rake if you have them. We also recommend bringing a hydration pack and work gloves. The plan is to break into groups and have people
tackle different parts of the trail.

Date

5/20/17 (All day)

NEMBA's Trail School South -- Saturday May 20th, 2017

Registration is now open for our one-day course in how to design, construct and maintain great singletrack. The first 30 people to register will be given a complimentary trail building textbook from IMBA, IMBA's Trail Solutions.

Registration is now over for this event -- Sorry!

This course is perfect for riders, trail enthusiasts, land stewards and land managers interested in learning about what makes for sustainable, enjoyable trails and how to take care of them.

The course will include classroom presentations on the best practices of trail building and maintenance in the morning, followed by hands-on trail building clinics in the afternoon.

Coffee, snacks and lunch will be included, and there will also be an option to purchase IMBA's trailbuilding textbook, IMBA Trail Solutions.

The cost is $20. Please bring a check for $40 if you wish to purchace IMBA's book, Trail Solutions: IMBA's Guide to Building Sweet Singletrack.

The course will take place at Rockhouse Hill Sanctuary, managed by the Oxford Land Trust, located about 45 minutes southwest of Hartford and 30 minutes northwest of New Haven.

Event Leader

Mountain Bikers Meet with Senator Gobi, DCR and EEA Leaders to Discuss Access to the Ware River Watershed

On February 16, 2017, Senator Anne Gobi (5th Worcester District) arranged a meeting between NEMBA, a local mountain biker engaged with Ware River Watershed access issue, leadership from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) and Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs (EEA), and the Legislative Director for Representative Kimberly Ferguson.

At the meeting, Wachusett NEMBA Vice President Brett Russ and local rider Wilson Dobson urged the DCR and the EEA to take action to legitimize and allow shared-use passive recreation, including mountain biking, on the existing trails in the Ware River Watershed. Russ and Dobson also urged them to put a halt on the anti-mountain bike propaganda and misinformation being spread by officials in the Division of Water Supply Protection (DWSP) and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA).

DCR Commissioner Leo Roy and EEA Assistant Secretary Dan Sieger affirmed that they supported increasing mountain bike access to the watershed. However, Commissioner Roy believes that this must be done through the review process of the next Public Access Plan. He wishes to accelerate the time table for the Public Access Plan so that it begins in the fall of 2017 instead of 2019.

Russ and Dobson expressed skepticism that this process would be fair and fact-based. They said that there is evidence that DWSP is already creating new maps of the watershed which dramatically increase the amount of buffer lands where many of the current trails are now located. The maps appear to go well beyond the legally established guidelines defined in the Watershed Protection Act and appear to be falsely fabricated with invented tributaries, impossible water connections, and arbitrary “protection zones”. Russ and Dobson expressed concern that the DWSP was already engaged in planning the Public Access Plan in order to pre-determine the outcome of the process and re-affirm the ban on mountain biking and trails.

Senator Gobi urged DCR to start the public process in the spring or early summer instead of waiting until the fall. Commissioner Roy said that he would look into the details about how the public planning process will work, so that it can be fair, rational and based on fact and not prejudice.

Russ and Dobson commented that there are many in the larger mountain bike community who have lost patience about the lack of action to provide equitable access to the watershed.

Commissioner Roy asked if there were other DCR properties in the region where NEMBA could help develop trails for mountain biking. Russ described NEMBA’s proposal to DCR for an 8+mile trail system in Oakham State Forest. However, DCR only approved a one-mile trail. Another potential opportunity for new trails could be in Spencer State Forest. Commissioner Roy said that he would review NEMBA’s Oakham Proposal and that he’d be willing to do a site visit to Spencer State Forest with NEMBA once the snow has melted.